Sunday Post-Game 3/27

With the start the Penguins got off to and the way the season unfolded after that, it looked like the business of clinching the East Division title was going to be kind of anticlimactic.

I mean, the Penguins’ magic number was three with nine games to go. There wasn’t any mystery about if the Penguins would win the division. It was just a question of when.

But thanks to Bryan Lerg, the clinching scenario turned out to be interesting after all.

Lerg scored a highlight-reel shorthanded goal in overtime to give the Penguins a 3-2 win at Hershey tonight. That coupled with Norfolk’s loss to Charlotte gave the Penguins their third division title in team history.

When the highlight of Lerg’s goal becomes available, we’ll have to get it up here. It was something to see.

Brian Strait tipped a puck out into the neutral zone and Lerg chased it down. He skated up the right wing, and with Robert Bortuzzo driving to the net, Lerg toe-dragged around Keith Aucoin and snapped a shot past goalie Braden Holtby.

Some quotes on the goal:

Lerg: “I just threw it on net, I guess. Took him wide and threw it on net.”

John Curry: “It was a pretty sweet move. That’s one of his go-to’s. He’s got the toe-drag and he’s got the backhand. I’ve seen it in practice a few times and I’ve seen it in games a few times. He can do it at full speed, so it’s tough to defend.”

Bortuzzo: “I’m just glad he didn’t pass it at that point. I saw it hit the twine. I almost smashed him into the boards when he came flying around the net. Exciting time. We were ecstatic when it went in.”

Coach John Hynes: “It’s great to see him be able to get that. He works hard. You look at the guy who came here on a PTO at the beginning of the year and earned everything he’s got. He’s kind of a reflection of all of our players – a lot of guys with heart and grit and skill. You combine that together and it’s a good group.”

The Penguins took a 2-1 lead into the third on power-play goals by Andrew Hutchinson, who had a big game, and Ben Street. Hershey tied it in the final two minutes of regulation on a shorthanded goal by Aucoin.

The win was the 100th of Curry’s Penguins career. It also was the team’s 52nd of the year, breaking the franchise record of 51 set in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

The Penguins are now 7-1 against Hershey this season. The rest of the East Division playoff picture is a mess. The Bears are up only three points on Charlotte and Norfolk’s only got a one-point lead on Binghamton. It’s no exaggeration to say the Penguins could still face any of those four teams in first round of the playoffs.

Great job, glad we did it right in the home of the bears! i’m sure that was a hard pill for the fans to swallow.

frankie2003

Hard pill for the fans to swallow? Probably the understatement of the year. Place got NASTY after that 2nd bears goal… but Lerg shut the entire building up except for the pens fans that made the trip. Unreal way to win our 3rd division title!

Next onto clinching best record in the AHL, magic # over portland is 9, and over Milwaukee is 3.

Pens14

Shout out to John Curry on his 100th win. What a way to do it. Three games in two and a half days, with hundreds of miles on a bus, capped off by an OT win over Hershey. That’s earning your money the hard way.

nailersfan66

2nd time since Wheeling’s affiliation with the Pens began in the late 90s that all 3 teams in the organization are heading to the playoffs. The other season was 2008-09.

frankie2003

Bears media said they are voting Theissen for MVP and Hynes for Coach of Year.

jreeders518

@nailersfan66, who do you think they (Nailers) will draw in the first round?

dave

The first bad coaching decision I saw Hynes make all season. Two minutes left in regulation with the man advantage and your up by 1 on the high flying Bears. You don’t need another goal to win. Why do you put your PP out there? You should have you PK out there. Your best defensive guys should be on the ice in that situation. He almost blew it.

Bmetgeno

Had a bad dust storm here in Kandahar yesterday that knocked out our internet feed. Just found out that the Pens clinched the division. Congrats to the team on the title and setting a new season win record. And congrats to John Curry on picking up his 100th career win. Good luck in the upcoming Calder Cup playoffs!
On a side note….the base here in Kandahar is multi-national. The Canadians actually built a hockey rink! No ice of course. It’s 4v4 + goalies and there is only a red line and the players have sneakers on instead of skates, but you know what? It’s hockey and it’s still fun to watch!

Joe

I had the pleasure of sitting in section 101 last night and right in front of 2 guys old enough to be my dad that thought we we at a WWF wrestling match. One thing I can say for sure is those types of fans are not needed any where. I am not sure if anyone has the same opinion I do but if you ever been to a Flyers game there fans are terrilbe.
>Back to the best part what a win and what an effort for a team that traveled all the way and really in my mind was the better team last night and all year. All i can say is CURRY, CURRY. He played great.

Cheech

An amazing season. Who would have guessed Lerg and Street would have been counted on and produced in such a big way?

nailersfan66

There’s literally 2 points separating 4th (Wheeling) from 8th (Cincinnati). Still way too early to tell.

Pens sign F Paul Thompson out of UNH. He was the leading scorer and is a Hobey Baker nominee, and the Hockey East Player of the Year. Many were calling him the prize of the undrafted college players this year.

honestly coming from a Bears fan it really wasn’t a hard pill to swallow, 90% of the fans expected the Pens to win the division for the last month or so and In all honesty Hershey fans don’t care as much about the divison championship since they do not raise banners or celebrate it in anyway. in the last few years the Bears have won a Calder Cup after winning divison and also after the Pens won the division in 05-06. not trying to be a downer but just giving honest opinion. Had we not won Cups recently then yes it would sting but the majority of the fans know we cannot win it every year so it really doesn’t sting as much as you would think. The thing that should scare yinz is that the Bears now have 85% of their playoff roster and it took overtime to win.

frankie2003

Ok, all i hear from Bears fans is “pens won in 06 and we won in playoffs”

Let’s examine that: That year ALMOST the entire team was in pittsburgh by the end of the year AS WELL as Michel Therrien. When Joey Mullen took over, the team became a sub .500 team.

In other news…. the last 4 East Division Champions have gone on to the Calder Cup Finals.

If Bears fans don’t give 2 craps about the regular season, why are there so many fans for all their regular season games? If those games “dont matter” why is everyone going and cheering for the bears to win?

Dave

JB-Do you know if this Thompson kid will head down to WBS? Could we possible see him in the line up in any of these last few games?

frankie2003

@chad by the bears fans’ reactions after Lerg’s OT goal, it sure LOOKED like a hard pill to swallow.

That’s something I’d like to know myself, considering that my friend and I wanted to make last minute plans to come yesterday, but the four tickets left with no pairs available made that impossible. The same thing is happening for 4/9 but luckily, I responded to an ad on Craigslist where the seller selling his/her pair for Sunday offered me a deal for the 9th.

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

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